Another Thousand Yellow Daisies
by sudsalot
Summary: AU, takes place the night that Lorelai breaks up with Luke and sleeps with Christopher. Assumes nothing beyond that night. Tries to have the characters come to terms with what happened.


_Another Thousand Yellow Daisies_

Luke was burning with anger, and all of Stars Hollow knew why. Both Miss Patty and Babette had been working overtime to spread the word of Luke and Lorelai's break up. Luke would have been surprised to know that most people thought he was the victim. No one knew that Lorelai had given Luke and ultimatum and he was unable to answer it; but they did know that Lorelai walked away from their relationship and that she had broken off one other engagement before. There was even a rumor that she fled from Luke and sought solace in Christopher's bed. None of this made Luke feel any better. All he knew was that the woman he wanted to marry was gone. He couldn't believe how bad his luck had become; why did April have to show up at the worst possible time? If he knew about her when she was born then when he met Lorelai, they could have been on equal terms-each of them a single parent to a terrifyingly smart child. But with April entering his life when she did, he lost his ability to think rationally. Of course he intrinsically knew that Lorelai wouldn't hold April against him-how could she? What kind of a hypocrite would that make her? If he had thought it through, he would have turned to Lorelai for help with April instead of hiding her. Lorelai would have been happy to help, she would have loved April as Luke loved Rory, and they could have had a quasi-family before they got married. Everything not only would have been fine, it might have been better than if he didn't have April at all. The shared experience of being a single parent would have drawn them closer, and they might have gotten started years ago and been married now. But instead, he panicked, and April came to represent the bitterness of his break up with Lorelai. If Luke had been thinking straight, he would have realized how dangerous that could be to April, innocent in this entire mess, only wanting to know her father, and her father resenting her very existence.

* * *

Luke stormed down the stairs with his 'gone fishing' sign in hand and was surprised to see Kirk and Miss Patty sitting at a table, talking in hushed tones. He turned an angry eye toward Cesar.

"I had to let them in, Luke," said Cesar. "It's already 6:15."

Luke didn't say anything. He just turned around and marched back upstairs, opened the door to his apartment, and flung the sign across the room. It hit a picture of Lorelai that was on a table, and the frame fell to the floor, breaking the glass. "Perfect," he thought, "a broken picture for a broken relationship." He called Cesar.

"I'm going to take a nap," he lied. "Call me when the breakfast rush hits and I'll come downstairs and help you." He didn't wait for Cesar's response and he was surprised by how forcefully he slammed down the receiver. Cesar pulled the phone away from his ear in surprise and Miss Patty knew immediately what had happened.

"Poor Luke," she said to Kirk. "If he and Lorelai don't find a way to patch things up soon, he's going to be sad and angry for a long, long time."

* * *

Lorelai left Christopher's place in a hurry, her cheeks red with fury. "What was I thinking?" she said to herself. "It can't work out with Christopher, it can never work out. You know him, there's too much history, too many failed promises, too much heartache." That, of course, was only from her perspective; in absolute terms, Christopher had been a huge disappointment to Rory, too. "How can I bring him into our lives," she thought, "when he's tried so hard over the years to stay away?" That brought to mind another problem: how to tell Rory. She was so happy that Luke and Lorelai were engaged, and, given the rift between them lately and the fact that now things were back to normal, she didn't want anything to disrupt the status quo they had worked so hard to regain. She knew that Rory loved Christopher, but that didn't mean she liked him very much. "No," Lorelai thought, "I can't do this. I was emotional; the break up with Luke messed with my head. I over-reacted, that's all." But justifying her actions didn't change anything; she still had to tell Rory. And, she had to tell her parents, too. Long experience had taught her that there was no way to spin the break up to Richard and Emily without getting an earful of how the entire debacle was her fault, so she decided the best thing to do was to get it over with. Despite that revelation, she made the drive to her childhood home slowly, looking for excuses to delay the inevitable as long as she could. She took back roads, stopped for gas that she didn't need, and checked three Starbucks in a one-mile radius just to see if they had blueberry muffins. They all did; it was Starbucks, what could change? She plopped into a chair, nursing a cup of coffee and ignoring the muffin, oblivious to the looks of concern on the other customer's faces who couldn't help but notice her clear depression. Finally, two and a half hours after leaving Christopher's, she knocked on the door of Richard and Emily's home.

* * *

Cesar decided that he'd best not call Luke when it got busy, and a Herculean effort from himself and Lane ensured that the entire breakfast crowd was fed. Luke was far too upset to notice how much time had passed, so when he plodded downstairs for what he expected to be the breakfast rush in full swing and noticed that the diner was nearly empty, he lost it.

"What is this?" he shouted at Lane. "Lorelai and I broke up, and now this whole, crazy town decides not to eat at my diner anymore? Did anyone bother to think that maybe this entire thing was her fault?" Lane was looking at the floor, and Cesar decided to step in.

"Luke, it's not like that," he said. "We already-"

"Well, what is it like then?" interrupted Luke. "Well?"

"Don't yell at him!" said Lane, louder than she had ever spoken to anyone. "He worked really hard to cook for the whole breakfast crowd, and I worked really hard to serve them. We stepped up, without any help from you. No one went hungry and no one left upset. So maybe instead of yelling at us, you could try a little gratitude!"

Now it was Luke's turn to stare at the ground. No one said anything while he stewed. Finally, he looked at Lane. "I'm sorry," he offered weakly. "Why didn't you call me?"

"We wanted to help you, Luke," said Lane. "We thought you could use some alone time to reflect and to calm down. I guess we were wrong."

"No," said Luke, "you weren't wrong." He slowly walked out of the diner.

* * *

"Well," said Emily as the maid ushered Lorelai into the living room, "if it isn't our daughter, resident of Stars Hollow, mother to our granddaughter, and destroyer of men's hearts."

"Now Emily," said Richard, "let the girl explain."

"How did you know?" asked Lorelai.

"Sookie, of course," said Emily. "She's my go-to source for news that you're unwilling to share in a timely manner. She called here, looking for you, crying like her pet hamster just died. I wouldn't let her off the phone until she spilled the beans. So, another broken engagement. Care to explain?"

"I didn't want to get married until Rory went back to school," began Lorelai.

"That seems reasonable," said Richard.

"Richard, quit interrupting!" cried Emily. "Lorelai was about to tell us about yet another failed relationship."

"It wasn't my fault. I wanted Luke to commit to marry me, right there, on the spot. But he couldn't, he just...couldn't. He stood there with a vacant look on his face and it was too much for me to take. So I left." She was not about to tell her parents that she had fled to Christopher's side.

"So," said Emily, "you put a huge amount of pressure on Luke, and, when he didn't capitulate to your ultimatum, you ran back to Christopher? And before you ask, he called, too. Said the two of you spent the night together and he was worried when he woke up and you weren't there. Now, is there anything else, or are there other men you sleep with when you don't get your way?"

"Is there anyone who doesn't report to you about my personal life?" shouted Lorelai. "I don't deserve this, mom. I'm the victim here!"

"You end your engagement to Luke and **you're **the victim?" said Emily.

"He clearly didn't want to marry me, mom."

"You didn't give him a chance, Lorelai. You're too impulsive. You always have been."

"I gave him nothing but chances, and he made nothing but excuses. That whole thing with April..."

"Who's April?"

"Luke's daughter. He didn't know about her until recently, and then, instead of trusting me, he hid her from me, until he needed me to help him. And then he used her as an excuse to essentially say no when I asked him to elope."

"Elope?" Emily's voice started to break. "You weren't even going to let me help you with..."

Emily could no longer speak. She swiped at the tears that were suddenly falling down her face and rushed up the stairs.

"You'd better leave," said Richard, but Lorelai was already on her way out the door.

* * *

"Aww, big brother, I'm so sorry to hear that!" said Liz. "I thought you and Lorelai were perfect for each other."

"Obviously not," said Luke. "It's probably for the best. I can't believe I was with anyone that selfish in the first place."

"Why selfish?" asked Liz.

"She wanted everything on her own terms. She proposed to me. Robbed me of the chance to do it myself. She gave me an ultimatum. When I didn't kowtow to her, she took off."

"Why didn't you propose to her first, Luke? Weren't you sure that you loved her?"

"Of course I was sure. I just hadn't gotten around to it."

"And you told me yourself that you would tell Lorelai about April when things got settled. Why didn't you act? What were you waiting for? It seems to me that Lorelai was acting because you wouldn't, or you couldn't. That isn't exactly fair, you know. And then you complain about it when she has the balls to do what you couldn't?"

"Give me a break!" said Luke. "You're just like Lorelai. You rush into things, and where did it get you? Jimmy and T.J. Who are you to give me advice on relationships?"

Liz turned away from Luke and began to cry. He put his hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged him off. "Get out!" she said, her voice breaking. "Now." Luke, like Lorelai, was already headed for the door.

* * *

Lorelai couldn't look Rory in the eye. She suspected that Rory already knew about the break up, and she was right, but Rory kept her composure and decided to let Lorelai tell her about it in her own way. Finally, after what seemed an eternity where Rory had to fight to stifle a yawn, Lorelai spoke up.

"It's over between me and Luke," she said. "I ended it." She didn't elaborate.

"I heard," said Rory. "I'm so sorry. What happened?"

"Is it okay if I fill you in later? I'm still trying to sort it out in my mind."

"Of course it is. You don't owe me an explanation; I know perfectly well how hard you tried to make it work."

"Thanks, Rory. But I need to tell you, I just can't do it now."

Lorelai hugged Rory, then went into her own room and climbed into bed. She pulled the covers over her head and wept.

* * *

Luke was still stewing in his apartment when something caught his eye. _The Baseball Encyclopedia. _Luke's go-to book for when he felt bad, it took his mind out of Stars Hollow and into the magical game that had captivated him since he was a kid. He read about the Red Sox, filling in the words in his head before he reached them on the page. This was well-trod territory and Luke found himself getting lost in the joy of it all. Then it happened. He turned a page and found himself staring at a flattened daisy. It was the one that Lorelai gave him the night that Max proposed to her. He picked it up, thinking about that night. Then something occurred to him. He got a shovel out of his closet, put the flower inside his baseball cap, and marched downstairs, pausing only to insist that he was closing the diner and that Kirk had to leave. Luke walked to the gazebo. It was late; all of Stars Hollows' businesses were closed and the streets were deserted, except for Kirk, moping down the street on his way home. Then, without ceremony or emotion, Luke pushed the shovel into the soft ground and got to work.

* * *

"Mom, wake up!" shouted Rory. "You have to see this!"

Lorelai opened her eyes slowly and yawned. The first sun rays of the morning were right in her eyes and she had to squint to see Rory.

"What is it?" she asked, still groggy.

"I can't tell you," said Rory. "You just have to see it to believe it." She pulled Lorelai out of bed, shoved a cup of coffee in her hand, and five minutes later, the two Gilmore girls left the Crap Shack on their way to the gazebo.

There was a crowd milling around, all of them talking loudly. Lorelai grimaced as Babette burst through the crowd and came charging toward her.

"Lorelai, sugar!" said Babette. "There you are. Come on, come on. We've all been waiting for you." Without waiting for Lorelai to reply, Babette grabbed her by the hand and pulled her forward, pushing people out of the way. Lorelai gasped. She was standing in a field of daisies.

"996, 997, 998, 999...1000!" said Kirk. "There's..."

"A thousand yellow daisies," Lorelai said. She turned around, looking for Luke. He was nowhere to be found. She felt her chest tightening; it was almost a panic attack, and her breaths were coming in hard, rapid exhalations. And then she saw him, through the glass across the street, all alone in the diner, wiping down a table.

* * *

Luke looked up the moment he heard the door open. Lorelai closed the door and locked it, then turned the sign around to 'closed.'

"Did you do that?" she said to Luke. "Did you plant all those daisies?"

"I have no idea where those daisies came from," said Luke. "I was only responsible for one."

"Only one? You planted a single daisy out there? Why?"

Luke swallowed hard. He knew he couldn't lie to Lorelai; she'd see through him in a minute. He had no choice but to fess up.

"I didn't plant a daisy. I buried one."

"You _buried_ a daisy? Why?"

"It wasn't just any daisy. It was the one that you gave me. From that night. That night that Max proposed to you." The look on Lorelai's face broke Luke's heart. He didn't know what to say, but he knew he couldn't just stand there like an idiot. "I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry. But I was pretty mad, and I did it without thinking."

There was a long pause while the cogs in Lorelai's brain whirred. "So," she finally said, "where did all those daisies come from?"

"I don't know," said Luke. "But...maybe it's destiny."

"Destiny? You expect me to believe that?"

"I don't have any other explanation for it. But I do have an explanation for something else. You see, when you gave me that flower, I wanted to keep it forever, and give it to you on the day we got married. I didn't know then that you got it from Max, and that it was part of his proposal. But I did know that someday, we'd end up getting married. I knew it the first day I met you. You gave me that horoscope and I kept it in my wallet, and I kept that daisy in my book, for the same reason. But when things started to go wrong, when you got engaged to Max, and I got married to Nicole, it was because I stopped believing in that destiny. I took the easy way out, the coward's way out. Horoscope's aren't science, but that one you gave me was as real as anything I know of. And those daisies didn't spontaneously sprout, but maybe...maybe the same destiny that guided you into my life, that made me see something in you when I read that silly horoscope...maybe that same destiny reached out and grew those daisies. I saw them this morning, growing right next to where I buried that one, and suddenly, I believed in destiny again. All the crap that we endured, all the misery we put ourselves through...that I put you through...seemed insignificant when I saw those beautiful daisies. Whatever power there might be out there knew...it knew, and I knew, and you know, too. I know you know. I..."

"You're digging yourself in there pretty deep, Luke," said Lorelai. Maybe you'd better quit while you're ahead." She walked back to the door and turned the sign back to say 'open.'

"Go to work. I'll be back tonight. We've got a lot to talk about, but maybe we've both learned something from all this. It won't be easy. But destiny can be hard sometimes. I guess that's what makes it so worthwhile." She turned around and left the diner.

"How did it go?" asked Kirk as she passed by the gazebo. Lorelai smiled.

"I owe you one, Kirk. In fact, I owe you a thousand. Thank you."

The End


End file.
